Home networks are expected to migrate to multi-homed models where two different service providers would provide Provider Dependent (PD) prefixes, and filter traffic coming from the home network with the wrong source address as not topologically correct. One reason to use a dual-homed model is high availability, but another major reason is getting increased aggregated bandwidth. Since connection started with a given address should (e.g., must) transit through the service provider network that corresponds to the prefix, a good load balancing appears to require participation from the client stack(s) so as to get different streams through different networks in a balanced fashion. However, this is an NP-Complete problem, which can hardly be solved in an optimal fashion by distributed clients.
An alternate approach is proposed on the market whereby an over-the-top (OTP) content provider (such as a NETFLIX) would establish one or more tunnels to a third router at home or directly to the home consumer device, and expose a third (OTP) prefix there. The tunnel technology may for instance leverage various encapsulation techniques, using the home prefixes from the ISPs as locators, and the third (OTP) prefix as an identifier. This model is generally used as a plan A—plan B technique, whereby the video stream is sent on one of the tunnels and the other is ready for a quick fall back. In a variation of the model, the tunnels are in completely different content delivery networks (CDNs) to augment diversity.